MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[realist]

Is Eddie Douma still at Hillsdale?  He played at Calvin, and coached Alma and Calvin.

[oldknight]

Is Eddie douma still at Hillsdale?  He played at Calvin, and coached Alma and Calvin.

Good grief, how could I forget Eddie? I am getting old. Yes, he's still at Hillsdale.

[realist]

No problem OldK:  It gets further complicated if we start to add in guys like T Dykema, and R Schrottenboer et. al. from Calvin and Klunder et. al.  from Hope that coached awhile and have now moved on or even retired.

[Flying Dutch Fan]

And there are even more recent grads from Hope in JV or assitant roles

Charlie Kleinheksel - Grandville freshman
Kyle Maas & Kyle Vanderwall - Grandville JV
Jason Mejuer - St. Joseph - varisty assistant
Travis Spaman - Allegan - varsity assitant (will take over as head coach next year)

[AlwaysHope]

Here's are two little known but incredible facts about "The Rivalry." 

I watched the second Hope/Calvin game of the 1999-2000 series at Knollcrest on TV.  I obviously favored Hope, but I wanted them to win by three for reasons that will become apparent.

Sure enough, with 8 seconds left Hope had a 3 point lead but Calvin had the ball.  The long inbounds pass went to Aaron Winkle, who took an off balance, behind the arc, shot over (I think) Hope's Chad Carlson and made it for one of the most incredible shots I have ever seen (except, of course, for Kronemeyer's free throw after the buzzer in 1965!).  The Hope player took the inbounds pass and fired a long three point basket that clanked off the rim at the buzzer.  We went on to overtime, where Calvin proceeded to win, 82-80.

Now here's the incredible fact:  Had Winkle's long shot not gone it and there was no further scoring, or had the Hope desperation shot gone in at the buzzer, Hope would have obviously won the game by three and not only would the rivalry have been tied 70-70, but the ALL TIME POINTS SCORED BY EACH TEAM WOULD HAVE BEEN EXACTLY EQUAL!

Since the 20th century technically ended with the end of the year 2000, that means that WE WOULD HAVE PLAYED THE 20TH CENTURY WITH EVERYTHING (GAMES AND POINTS) TIED!

Winkle sure messed up The Rivalry's PR machine!

[diehardfan]

... it is the land of happy pine trees

I was about to break out my paint set.  You probably have to be old and have watched PBS as a kid.

Bob Ross was a good man and a one of a kind artist.  You don't have to be that old to remember him.  I just saw him on a PBS rerun like a month ago.

...and maybe there is a little river hiding back there....yeah there it is... one happy winding little river...

Oooh... I think it's coming back to me....

[northb]

Here's are two little known but incredible facts about "The Rivalry." 

I watched the second Hope/Calvin game of the 1999-2000 series at Knollcrest on TV.  I obviously favored Hope, but I wanted them to win by three for reasons that will become apparent.

Sure enough, with 8 seconds left Hope had a 3 point lead but Calvin had the ball.  The long inbounds pass went to Aaron Winkle, who took an off balance, behind the arc, shot over (I think) Hope's Chad Carlson and made it for one of the most incredible shots I have ever seen (except, of course, for Kronemeyer's free throw after the buzzer in 1965!).  The Hope player took the inbounds pass and fired a long three point basket that clanked off the rim at the buzzer.  We went on to overtime, where Calvin proceeded to win, 82-80.

Now here's the incredible fact:  Had Winkle's long shot not gone it and there was no further scoring, or had the Hope desperation shot gone in at the buzzer, Hope would have obviously won the game by three and not only would the rivalry have been tied 70-70, but the ALL TIME POINTS SCORED BY EACH TEAM WOULD HAVE BEEN EXACTLY EQUAL!

Since the 20th century technically ended with the end of the year 2000, that means that WE WOULD HAVE PLAYED THE 20TH CENTURY WITH EVERYTHING (GAMES AND POINTS) TIED!

Winkle sure messed up The Rivalry's PR machine!

Ah, but that squad was a team of destiny. One of our Banner years

[diehardfan]

April the hopecalvin.com website says they had 2,800 alumni at the "gatherings".  This year they have 60 sites registerd, the most ever.  Some pretty impressive restaurants if you don't mind me saying.

So 4,500 at Calvin, close to 3,000 at "official" locations and another several thousand watching on the tube around West Michigan and who knows how many picking up the game on CSTV.

Thanks for the info Scott. That's crazy. Incidentally, the Calvin half time spot for this year has the most fascinating 3d sketches of the new facilities.... WOW!!! Is it going to be great....

http://www.hopecalvin.com/watch/halftime.htm

[almcguirejr]

Things I think need to happen for Calvin to win tomorrow:

1.  Handle the Press
2.  Keep DVS, Vander Heide, Cramer under 40 points combined.
3.  Get 30 points from Meckes, DeVries, Mantel, Snoeyink Combo
4. Contest every three pointer, skip the double on the inside
5.  Keep the score in range so maybe GVW gets tight with subs playing time.  I have seen Hope play 3-4 times this year.  When he sends Jager,Klein, Partridge, and Wolfe in, it is hang on to your Stroh's time.  These guys scare me more than anything else about tomorrow.  If these guys get rolling Hope can put you away in a hurry.

I think Calvin will be ready.

[Stinger]

I heard a rumor that after the Hope/Calvin game tomorrow, CSTV will be televising the 2007 Hornet Alumni Game live from the Rolla Dome.   

5:30 tip on pay per view.

[sac]

I think Almcquire makes good points about what has to happen for Calvin........to expound a little

1.  Handle the Press----In the first game Hope used mostly token pressure, as the season has gone on Hope has become much more agressive with the press to the point where its the most agressive I've seen Hope on the press in years.  They've been absolutely relentless in the MIAA.  Calvin has never been a team I felt comfortable seeing Hope press.

2.  Keep DVS, Vander Heide, Cramer under 40 points combined.-----The first game these 3 guys each hit 20 and combined for 61 of 76 points.  Hope only got 5 points from the bench that day.  I definately don't think these 3 will have a day like that again but it will have more to do with others contributing than anything Calvin does on D.  40 seems like a good target though.

3.  Get 30 points from Meckes, DeVries, Mantel, Snoeyink Combo----if there was anything surprising from game 1 it was the almost complete lack of interior points from either team.  It was virtually an entirely perimeter game.  These four combined for  17 points but only 6-20 shooting.  The Fr. Mantel had a particularly difficult 2-10 night.  Despite his recent struggles he's a big key because I don't feel comfortable with Hope's interior matchups against him, he missed some pretty easy ones in his fist Hope game.

4. Contest every three pointer, skip the double on the inside-----As a strategy this seems contrary to a VandeStreek coached team but in practice tommorrow it might be worth a shot.  This Hope team is right up there with Hope's best 3 point shooting teams.  The disturbing thing for Calvin in the first game was that Hope shot 13-25 from 3 and a good 16 of those were completely wide  open, and resulted from passes out of the interior double teams.---it might be a little risky, because man v man I think Hope has good matchups on their offensive end, just as Calvin does on the other end.

5.  Keep the score in range so maybe GVW gets tight with subs playing time. ------Al has hit Hope's key to their success this season.  As mentioned in the first game the "2nd unit" was still working out their roles and scored just 5 point, Tim Partridge left with an ankle injury early and didn't return.  Combined they shot 2-11 and really only played about 5 minutes each when the game was in doubt in the first half.  That was probably the most minutes the starting 5 have played this season in one game.

On the season the Hope bench is averaging about 30 points a game when you include Holt, Osburn..........but its more like around 35 since the first Calvin game, they have been a pretty amazing group to watch develop.  Their improvement offensively has got to be the deciding factor in Hope now pressing for 40 minutes in each of the MIAA games.



The last thing to watch for is how effective or if Hope uses its 3-2 zone, Calvin had almost no success vs that zone the first game but Hope has not used it in MIAA play that I've noticed and has barely used it any games since that I can remember.

Also wouldn't hurt if Calvin got Veldhouse going early in a positve way, he was simply awefull out the gate the first game, with 4 turnovers in the first 5 or 6 posessions and 3-13 from the floor.  I don't expect that again.

Despite the 22 point margin in game 1, this matchup is really a lot closer than people might think .  There are 2 things Hope won't do tommorrow they did the first game..........shoot 13-25 from 3 and hold Calvin to 30% shooting.   On top of that the atmosphere in November was about as hostile as summer rec league game at the The Courthouse in Byron Center.  This will be, as it always is, Hope's most difficult road test of the year.  Calvin's M.O all year vs good teams has been poor first halves, it would serve Hope well to try and duplicate that kind of success.  The longer Calvin stays around the better chance they have of winning.

I expect a similar game to last years game at Calvin in terms of competitiveness and overall effort.


As always it will be a pleasure to be apart of the 4,500 plus to watch this one in person.  I'll be sure to bring to big Orange foam hat. 8)

[Cowman]

From a real lurker ..... thanks for all the information and opinions.

[hope1]

i think it will be a great game and hope winning  by  7  points  can not wait for the game to start

[goodknight]

I'm imagining a stunning second-half comeback.

Final

Calvin 68
Hope 66

...after Calvin trails 44-29 at the break....

[Civic Minded]

I'm imagining a stunning second-half comeback.

Final

Calvin 68
Hope 66

...after Calvin trails 44-29 at the break....

If you're right, I'll eat Sac's big Orange foam hat (at the very least to stop the tirade of words I'll want to say at that point).